Evidence of meeting #15 for Official Languages in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was point.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Good morning. Welcome to the 15th meeting of our Standing Committee on Official Languages.
Welcome, everybody.
This morning the meeting will be divided into two parts. First is the public part, where we are going to begin with Mr. Godin's motion, which was presented at the end of the last meeting. We will then take a short break to go in camera to proceed with the study of our report and the review.
I will now ask Mr. Godin to explain the motion he presented at our last meeting.
Monsieur Godin.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm going to start by wishing all the women here today a happy Valentine's Day. This is the day of kisses; we'll do that after the meeting. Happy Valentine's Day, Jean-Claude D'Amours.
I don't intend to debate this motion for long. It doesn't have to be debated. A series of witnesses have appeared before us. On a number of occasions, witnesses have said that the subject was not their responsibility. Others have said they could not talk about it since it wasn't their responsibility. The minister appeared before a Senate committee a few days ago. I believe she would like to appear before our committee to outline the position of the Department of Canadian Heritage, which is responsible for official languages. Out of respect, I think we can grant her that. At the same time, we have some questions to ask. I have questions to put to the minister to clarify certain aspects of the action plan and concerning the government's vision for the next action plan, and so on.
That's why I don't see in what way the motion would be negative. I'm certain the government doesn't want to prevent the minister from speaking before the Standing Committee on Official Languages. I'm sure the invitation to have the minister appear will be received with enthusiasm and joy so that we can question her. I have nothing further to say on that point at this time.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you, Mr. Godin. I'm sure all committee members appreciate all your good wishes on this fourteenth day of February.
We'll continue with Mr. Harvey.
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
If I remember correctly, Ms. Verner appeared not very long ago. When exactly? In December?
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
That's less than a month and a half ago. The minister has previously appeared on a number of occasions; I don't know exactly how many times, four or five. Is it customary to have the minister responsible appear that often in committee? These are questions I'm asking really in good faith. I want to know the story. Is it common practice to have a minister appear as regularly as this, particularly when her last visit was a month and a half ago?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Is the point of your question to know how many times the minister has appeared?
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
No. I want to know whether this is a customary way of operating.
Committee Researcher
It's frequently done. Sometimes it happens more often, sometimes less so. In December, she appeared on the subject of a separate study. The committee is currently concerned with a new study, on which no specific question has been put to the minister. If committee members feel it's worthwhile to put certain questions to the minister—
Conservative
Committee Researcher
Right now, yes, but it wasn't concerning that subject in December.
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
Is the request to meet with the minister in relation to the plan we are studying?
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Yes. I've been a member of Parliament for some time, and, to my knowledge, the minister appears as the committee needs her. The law confers a function on the committee. In fact, the minister is responsible for official languages, and the committee asks her to appear as necessary.
The motion concerns the action plan. We're studying the action plan. Every time we conduct a study, we ask the minister to appear. Our curent study concerns the action plan.
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
Is the intention to include her remarks in the action plan?
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
We know that the House is recessed next week; this week is already over. Let's suppose the minister is available when we return; that means she would be coming in two weeks. Depending on our schedule, we had planned perhaps to table the report on the plan sooner than that. If the minister's comments must be part of the plan, do we delay tabling or what?
We're studying a plan; we're trying to develop a report, suggesting that what the minister says be included in the report. We're developing the report before having heard the minister. We've already prepared a report before hearing the final witnesses. In this case, I'd like to know whether we really need witnesses before drafting the report. We're finishing writing the report before even hearing the witnesses. Moreover, some very important witnesses appeared here when the report was already written.
Are we summoning witnesses for a real reason or just to fill up time? If that's the case, we're wasting our time. If it isn't the case, we'll be forced to suspend the report until we've met with the minister. I don't really feel comfortable approving the report or working on it when we haven't finished hearing our witnesses. Furthermore, last week, Mr. Bélanger said that we would probably need a kind of organization chart to determine who does what in all this.
Was that you who talked about the organization chart, Mr. Bélanger?
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
In any case, it was someone from the Liberal side who talked about it. We no longer know who does what. We're working on a report that we haven't finished writing, any more than we've finished meeting the witnesses. I'm starting to wonder about this.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you.
I'd perhaps like to point out, Mr. Godin, that there is Chapter 3. I don't know whether you've had the time to read Chapter 3 of the report, which provides a brief description of the roles of the public service.
Conservative
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Mr. Chairman, since we're not in camera, I would encourage members to avoid talking about the report which, contrary to what Mr. Harvey appeared to suggest, has not been approved. A draft report has been prepared by our researchers, as should be the case. However, there can be an enormous difference between the first draft and the final report. I admit I haven't completely finished shredding it.